Gemstone Publishing
Gemstone Publishing is an U.S. company that publishes comic books and collectors' guides. The company was formed by Diamond Comic Distributors President and Chief Executive Officer Stephen A. Geppi. The company has reprinted EC Comics of the 1950s. Additionally, the company is the current home of The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide. The core of the editorial staff (John Clark, Gary Leach and Susan Daigle-Leach) previously worked at Gladstone Publishing. Archival editor David Gerstein previously worked at Egmont. Russ Cochran and EC Comics reprints Gemstone has also published reprints EC Comics. Gemstone's Comic Book Marketplace-editor Russ Cochran had previously published (in 1973) a dozen reprints of EC titles including Crypt of Terror, Weird Science, The Haunt of Fear, The Vault of Horror, etc., before moving to Gladstone Publishing and then to Gemstone, which has been the home of Cochran's EC reprints for over 15 years. Reprinting the Cochran/Gladstone-reprints of The Haunt of Fear, The Vault of Horror and Weird Science (all 1992), Gemstone also republished (in single issue and 'annual' - four issues per 'annual' - format): *''Crime SuspenStories, ''Shock SuspenStories, Two-Fisted Tales, Weird Fantasy and Weird Science-Fantasy in 1992; *''Incredible Science Fiction'' (1994) *''Frontline Combat'' (1995) *''Panic'' (1997) *''Piracy'' and Valor (1998) *''Aces High, ''Impact, M.D. and Psychoanalysis (1999), and *''Crime Patrol'' and Extra! in 2000. Oversize, hardback, slip-cased collections of these comics had been previously published in black & white by Cochran during the 1980s as "The Complete EC Library". This Library was then added to by Cochran/Gemstone with 2005's Picto-Fiction collection, comprising the EC comics: Confessions Illustrated, Crime Illustrated, Shock Illustrated and Terror Illustrated, along with "18 previously unseen stories, never published before".The Book Palace's "Complete EC Library" pages. Accessed 12 March 2008 Full-color hardbacks In 2006, Cochran and Gemstone began publication of a series of full-color EC Archives editions. Promising that "each EC Archive volume will reprint six complete issues (24 stories)",EC Comics Online, home of Gemstone's EC pages. Accessed 12 March 2008 the first volumes of Weird Science and Shock Suspenstories both saw print in December, 2006, with forewords from (respectively) EC fans George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. Ostensibly beginning to publish two volumes every two months, the schedule changed to one-per-month and recently one every couple of months. In addition, "Deluxe" versions of Weird Science Vol.s 1 & 2 (both signed by artist Al Feldstein), Shock Suspenstories Vol. 1 and Tales From the Crypt Vol. 1 have been published. Future In early 2009, the future of Gemstone Publishing was unclear, after reports of unpaid printing bills, particularly from the EC Archives.[http://pwbeat.publishersweekly.com/blog/2009/02/18/steve-geppis-debt-woes-growing/ Heidi MacDonald, "Steve Geppi’s debt woes growing" in The Beat, February 18, 2009]. Accessed March 5, 2009 In April, Geppi responded to the uncertainty, noting that while there had been "a reduction in staff at Gemstone," such moves did "not signal the end of Gemstone Publishing."[http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/public/default.asp?t=1&m=1&c=34&s=259&ai=81682 "Rumors about Gemstone Publishing?" in Scoop, April 18, 2009]. Accessed April 19, 2009 Geppi hinted at "new developments" for the Overstreet Price Guide in 2010, and stated that while "no final decision has been made regarding The EC Archives or our comic books featuring Disney's standard characters... it seems certain that both lines will continue in some form." The last batch of Gemstone's Disney comics had appeared in November 2008, complete with previews for next month's issues that Gemstone was to fail publishing. BOOM! Kids acquired all comic publishing licenses regarding Disney characters, and started publishing comic titles priorly owned by Gemstone by the second half of 2009. References External links *Gemstone Publishing's Official website Category:Gemstone Publishing Category:EC Comics